Sole plate for laundry irons



Mallch 4, 1930. M W, MCARDLE y 1,749,596

-soLE PLATE PQR LAUNDRY IRoNs Filed Feb. 2, 1927 ffy! "W3 Patented Mar. 4, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SOLE PLATE FOR LAUNDRY IRONS Application led February 2, 1927. Serial No. 165,269. Y

The vpurpose of this invention is to provide a sole plate for a laundry iron and the like of which the working face shall be formed by sheet metal adapted to afford a fiat surl face which will take proper polish without requiring to be machined or ground, asis necessary in the case of a cast iron sole plate; and which may be produced more cheaply than the customary cast iron body of the customary fiat iron. It consists in the elements and features of construction shown and described as indicated in the claims.

In the drawings Figure l is a perspective view -of a sheet metal stamping which constitutes the shell and affords the workingiface of a laundry iron produced in accordance With this invention in one of its forms.

Figure. Q is a perspective view of the completed sole plate of this form.

Figure 3 is a section at the line 3 3 on Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a plan view of a slightly modified form.

Figure 5 is a section at the line 5--5 on Figure 4. y

Figure 6 is a section similar to Figure 5 showing the invention in another modified form.

Figure 7 is a section similar to Figures 5 and 6 showing another modification.

Sole plates for laundry irons and the like have heretofore been made of cast iron, which` for the purpose of receiving proper 5 polishing finish upon the working face and the beveled peripheral edges, is necessarily ground smooth upon said working face and edges, with the resultv that the corner bounding the working face at the slightly less than 90 meeting angle of the face and beveled edge, is so nearly mechanically perfect as to constitute a cutting edge liable to-cut the fabric upon which the iron operates upon cncountering a Wrinkle or other ,slight protrusion as the iron is moved over the goods. This objectionable characteristic can be prevented only by a final finishing process consisting of grinding the corner to slightly' blunt it. There is thus required for the process of finishing the customary cast iron sole plate, three grinding processes, each of which must be conducted with care and skill, and which, therefore, involve a very considerable fraction of the cost of production. Also in the common construction and process of inaking these sole plates of cast iron, it is necessary to drill and tap holes from the upper side for attaching a handle, and in the case of electric irons, for securing the upper elements of the structure; and since these holes must not extend to the working face, they must be bored .only partly through the thickness of the plate, bein'g what are commonly called blind holes, which can be tapped with ditiiculty, extreme care being required to avoid breaking the taps in the process.

The purpose of the present invention is to. avoid the necessity of these three grindings, and at the same time furnish the sole plate with a face adapted to receive even higher polish than that of which the cast iron is susceptible even when most carefully ground, and by entirely avoiding the necessity of grinding to escape the liability of producing a cutting edge; and also to avoid the necessity of tapping blind holes in providing for attaching a handle or other super-imposed parts. i These purposes are accomplished by the structure of the several forms hereinafter described. Referring to the form shown in Figures l, 2 and 3; the so-le plate shown is producedin the following manner: First, there is made a sheet metal shell-by suitable means, as by die stamping-seen in Figure 1, which is peripherally flanged. having a flat bottom, A1, and flange, A2. the latter slightly flexed or inclined inwardly` particularly at the upper part as seen at a2, the stamping being produced by the well known methods adapted for producing the peripheral flange integrally, and sutliciently rigid to prevent liability7 to be, fiexed outwardly for disen- 'gaging from the cast iron body with which it is'to be filled as hereinafter described. The next step after the formation of this metal shell consists in mounting fixedly within it as by spot-welding to its flat bottom, steel fittings, B, B, of suitable height to entendl entirely up through the cast metal body which is to be formed as hereinafter described in the shell, and to be exposed at their upper ends at or above the surface of the cast metal body. As illustrated, these fittings consist simply of bored and interiorly threaded blocks adapted to have screwed into them bolts for securing super-imposed parts of the iron. The final step in the production of this sole plate shown in Figures l, 2 and 3 consists in flowing into the cavity of the shell, A, molten nietal to substantially fill the same, and allowing the same to solidify therein. The laundry iron so-le plate produced as above described, has its working face formed by sheet ii'ietal most suitable for taking the polish which is desirable vfor a laundry iron, without any preparatory machining or grinding such as is necessary to prepare a sole plate of cast iron o-r the like for polishing. The co-etlicient of expansion of sheet steel and cast iioii being substantially the same, iron flowing in molten condition into the steel shell and comconsists of further means of insuring absolute rigidity of junction of the shell and its cast metal container. It will be recognized, also,

that the process of making this sole plate as described is exceedingly economical, because all the grinding and machining is dispensed with except the mere working of boring and attaching the fittings.

In the form of this invention shown in Figures 4 and 5, the filler for the outer shell whose plane surface constitutes the working face of the iron, is a cast iron plate, E, which may be referred to as the body of the sole plate. This plate is enclosed in a metal sheath, D, corresponding to the shell, A, of the form previously described. The sheet metal blank for forming this sheath being.r applied upon the under side of the plate, E, is folded up as seen at D2, about the beveled peripheral edge of the plate, E, and clinched over upon the margin of the upper side of said plate as seen at D3, where it will be seen-that the plate,

' D, is rabbeted for seating the cliiiching margin, D3. It will be understood that in the process of folding the sheet metal upon the plate, E, for covering the beveled edge, the corner cannot become acute, but is necessarily rounded as is most desirable for the purpose, and that this would be the fact even though the corner of the cast body, E, upon which the sheath is thus folded would be perfectly acute-angled.l But the normal angle' of the iron casting will itself be slightly blunt, because the casting will not be subjected to any grinding process, none being required since the working face and edge of the plate are to be formed by the sheath or shell.

Tapped holes c for securing the handle to the sole plate are drilled entirely through the cast body member, E, and tapped before the sheath is applied; aii-d there is thus avoided the dilicult process of tapping blind holes.

rl`he sole plate thus formed, it will be seen, has the saine superior qualities above pointed out with respect to the form shown in Figures l, 2 and 3, consisting in that the sheet metal of the sheath is of liner texture than can be produced in cast iron, and that the process ot' production described is much less expensive than the grinding processes which are dispensed with in employing the sheath and the process of construction above described.

In the form of the invention shown in Figure 7, the shell which is a sheet inetal stamping is shown at M, being first foinied with its flange substantially erect, as seen in dotted line, m1'. and the filler or body member of the sole plate, seen at N, is die cut from a metal plate of suitable thickness, and therefore has its peripheral edges, n, substantially perpendicular to its faces; and its horizontal dimensions are slightly less than the corresponding dimensions ot the inner surface of the bottom web of vthe shell, M; and sai-d filler being lodged in the shell, the peripheral flange, m1, is flexed inward to oblique position for contact with the upper corner of the periphery of the filler plate, N, and may then be clinched down upon the upper margin of said plate as seen in Figure 7 In this form the filler plate is bored through and tapped as seen at al to afl'ord means for securing the handle and any other super structure of the iron.

In the form shown in Figure 6, the shell, G, is substantially identical in form with the shell, M, shown in Figure 5, and the filler consists of a lseries of successively super-imposed relatively thin die cut plates, F, F1, F2, F3` corresponding in horizontal contour to the inner surface of the bottom web of the shell. and the lower-most plate F of the series is slightly less in horizontal dimensions than saidinner surface of said bottom web, and each successively super-imposed plate of the series is similarly less in horizontal dimensions than the plat-e next below it; so that the ent-ire pile or group of these plates presents an inclined peripheral edge and eagli lower plate has a narrow marginal portion exposed beyond the plate next above it, this narrow margin of the next to the top plate in conjunction with said top plate forming what is substantially a rabbet around the upper margin of the pile, considered as a unit. And the tiange. (il, of the shell, G, formed originall \y erector at right angle to the web, as seen at dotted line in Figure l, is flexed inwardly to inclined position in contact with the Lipper corners of the peripheral edge of l'io all the plates of the series except the top plate and is clinched over at its upper margin into the rabbet described, formed at the peripheryl -sertedl through the registered holes and clinched down Hush upon ,the outer faces of the top and bottom plates of the series. The hollow' rivets being tapped through and through, serve the purpose of `the tapped holes, e, of the form shown in Figures 4 and 5, namely, for securing the handlel and other super-imposed parts of the iron. It will be observed that byreason of the peripheralF edges of the filler plates in the forms shown in Figures 6 and 7, and the dimensions of the plates being less than the corresponding dimensions of the inner surface of the bottom Web of the shell, the shell flange,- When flexed inward to engage the upper'corners of the Vfiller plates, encloses triangular air spaces around the ller plates for the function of slightly insulating the filler plates at their edges from the acute angular and rounded or blunted periphery of the shell which is of advantage in the service performed by the iron, reducing the radiation of heat from the edges of the filler plates to the inclined flange of the shell which forms the beveled edge of the sole plate, and thereby conserving the heat for heating the Working face.

I claim 1. A composite sole plate for, laundry irons comprising a peripherally flanged sheet metal shell and a metal filler for the same, the shell defining a cavity housing the filler, said iange extending inwardly at its upper edge into locking engagement with the filler to permanently secure these elements together.

2. A sole plate for a laundry iron and the like comprising .a sheet metal plate forming the Working face of the iron and having an upstanding flange extending inwardlyat its upper part defining an upwardly ,opening cavity; a cast iron element fitting said cavity and completelyconformed thereto, and metaT fittings consisting of metal parts distinct from said sheetmetal face plate and from said cast iron element adapted for attaching superimposed parts to said sole plate.

3. 'A sole plate for laundry iron comprising a body plate having its top surface of less area than the bottom surface thereof, beveled side surfaces connecting the top and bottom surfaces, asheetfmetal sheath fixed to said body and covering the bottom and side surfaces and overhanging the top surface' thereof, saidv sheath defining a rounded edge Where the bottom and side surfaces intersect 4. A sole plate for a laundry iron comprising a body plate having its top surface of less area than the bottom surface thereof, beveled side surfaces connecting the top and bottom surfaces, a sheet metal sheath fixed to said body and covering the bottom and side surfaces thereof, said sheath defining a rounded edge where the bottom and side surfaces intersect, and an inwardly turned peripheral iange extending completely around the upper edge of the sheath and overhangmg the body in locking relation thereto.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 29th day of January, 1927.

MICHAEL W. MCARDLE. 

